Brittany Murphy in The Ramen Girl [movies, video]

Brittany Murphy (RIP) starred in the 2008 film The Ramen Girl (Amazon), playing Abby, an American dumped by her boyfriend in Tokyo who finds her true calling: to make ramen. Brittany Murphy was actually pretty well-cast as a whiny privileged expat determined to learn the way of the noodle from the tyrannical master ramen chef Maezumi, intensely played by Toshiyuki Nishida, a celebrated Japanese actor.

The film is not nearly as bad as being released direct-to-DVD implies. While there are some funny scenes and relatively poignant (albeit brief) musings about the artistry of ramen and emotions, the film is a little uneven at parts (unnecessary subplots, secondary characters that are completely abandoned story-wise, forced romance, loose ties, a somewhat bizarre ending). It's also a little dark: the despondent ramen chef worrying about who is to be his successor after 45 years of daily labor. It's no cinematic masterpiece, but we'd argue that the whole self-discovery-through-food metaphors here are sometimes more charming and effective than those found in the Julie part of Julie & Julia. Here are a few (some might say "spoiler-ish") selected scenes and the original trailer:

I saw it and was wish it was half as good as Tampopo. This move was just bad. I don't blame the actors. I feel so sorry that this young lady has died at such a young age. My heart goes out to her family.

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